


Little Ones

by TwistedK



Series: Random Drabbles [5]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Baby!Eren, M/M, papa eruris
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 13:03:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4392995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedK/pseuds/TwistedK
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"He doesn't know how good he is," Levi says and Erwin wonders if he's still talking to the child. He's starting to sound like he's praying. "So please be good to us. I want to be someone's papa, too."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Ones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fractalbright](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fractalbright/gifts).



_"What the fuck is that?"_

"Levi! Language!"

Erwin carts in a stroller with a squirming little thing under the white fleece blanket, shaking off snowflakes turning into puddles on his hardwood floor. His husband looks comical with bags upon bags slung over both shoulders.

He drops them off by the entry and shakes off more snow that have settled on top, shakes off even more from his coat and damp hair. Levi would be pissed but out of the bundle of blanket, a shock of dark hair peeks out. Then a pair of big, dark eyes framed in angel soft lashes. Levi's eyes widen.

"Eww, it's Nile's brat," Levi crinkles his nose, heading to the kitchen for paper towels to clean up their mess. They haven't been home for 5 minutes and they're already tracking mud in.

"Aww, he doesn't mean that," Erwin switches to a babbling baby talk as he picks up the squirming child, a mere 1 year and 3 months old, from the stroller. "You're not eww. You're so cute!"

"What are you doing?" Levi's back from the kitchen with a handful of towels. Erwin gives him an innocent look and Levi can feel the beginnings of a groan watching his husband carry the baby under her arm pits, at arm's length. "Erwin, she's a baby. Not a ticking bomb. Will... Will you hold her right?"

Erwin realizes his mistake and tucks the tiny baby, arms and chubby legs flailing about, under his arm.

He cannot believe he married this man and signed adoption application forms with him without first asking if he is even capable of holding a damn child. He shakes his head and Erwin almost whines. "I'm doing my best here, Levi."

"You're going to kill her, i-" he catches himself before he calls Erwin an idiot. If this brat picks up something unsavory, Nile will know it's from him and he has enough reason to dislike Levi. "Give her here before you drop her. Clean the mess you brought in instead."

He takes the baby easily in his arms, pressing her against his chest while she tries to climb over his shoulder and get a grip of his hair. Erwin watches in awe as his husband doesn't so much as flinch when she does grab his hair. He does notice Levi switching his weight from one foot to the other in a slow, even rhythm.

"How long is she staying?" Levi asks, his tone noticeably more mellow. "I don't even remember her name."

"Eva," Erwin says with a handful of wet and dirty paper towels. "Just tonight. Nile and Marie are going out on a date and I couldn't resist, she's so cute!"

He tries to reach out to touch her little pink foot still absently flailing about but Levi sways her out of his reach. "Wash your hands, what is wrong with you?"

Erwin finds them on the couch after he's washed and dried his hands, Eva standing supported on Levi's lap. She has a fascination with his hair, still reaching out trying to grab it. But she settles for pressing her soft, fleshy palm against Levi's mouth. He almost wants to propose to Levi again, right then and there, when he sees Levi pucker his lips ever so slightly - a secret kiss to her lovely hand.

"She's so pretty," Erwin says, leaning from behind Levi and taking her other hand in his. Something clenches inside him, something sweet and aching, when she squeezes his finger with her whole hand. The tiny strength of her grip breaks and glues Erwin's heart back together ten times over.

"Eh, she's okay," Levi says. "Erwin, I swear to god, stop crying. She's just a baby." But Erwin sniffs anyway.

* * *

 

Changing her diaper is a disaster.

Actually, Erwin is a disaster. It has become clear to Levi that his husband has no idea how to deal with infants other than cooing at them and crying at the mere sight of them. Eva had cried, more like wailed, over Levi's step by step instructions over Erwin's shoulder on how to clean her and put her in new clothes and a new diaper.

Not that he's an expert but he had taken care of his younger sister, Mikasa, since she was born. He has to admit, Mikasa was an easy child. She didn't squirm or actively try to roll off the bed when she's still dirty.

"Oh dear god, stay still!" Levi says, elbowing an increasingly flustered Erwin out of the way. "You're as annoying as your papa."

And again, tears prick Erwin's eyes when he hear Levi say "papa." Not father, daddy, dad. Papa.

"Out," Levi points him to the bedroom door. "I can only handle one crying baby at a time."

* * *

 

Feeding her is a little easier.

Erwin sat on the couch and Levi laid her in his arms and a spoon to feed her mashed food from a jar. He heads back to the bedroom to clean up while Erwin watches her in rapture. She looks up at him with large, curious eyes. Her cheeks are tinged bright pink from her previous ruckus but she's more or less at peace now, content with the cradle of Uncle Erwin and a face full of mashed peas.

"You know, we might have a little one like you soon," Erwin whispers to her and she blinks in response. "So you'll have to let me practice taking care of you so I can take of our little one, too."

There's a moment of peace when Eva narrows her eyes at Erwin and he glows at the start of what he thought to be the tiny baby laughter he had often heard at the Dawks' household. But as soon as she swallows, her face contorts into a very alarming expression before bursting into another loud wailing.

"Oh no, oh no, what is it?" Erwin practically throws the spoon onto the coffee table, damn the mess, and picks little Eva up, rocking her back and forth. But still, she cries. Very loudly. "What do I do? Levi? Levi where are you?"

"Right here," Levi responds, watching them calmly from the open kitchen, wiping his hands on a dish cloth. Erwin makes a motion to hand Eva off to Levi who obviously knows his way around babies. "No, no. You're good. Might not want to rock her so fast unless you want her to throw up."

Erwin appreciates Levi's confidence in him and takes it as an opportunity to learn. So he rocks her more slowly but she's doesn't calm down. "Shh, shh. It's okay, darling," he coos softly, rubbing her back.

"She hates me," Erwin whines, actually whines, over Eva crying five minutes later. "Babies hate me, Levi."

"No, she doesn't," Levi finally takes her off his hands and, instantly, Eva latches on to Levi's neck with a firm hold on his hair. "There, there." He rubs her back and she calms down.

"How do you do that?"

"Maybe she's scared of giants and I'm more her size," Levi smirks and Erwin can't help but laugh. His husband never makes fun of his own height but somehow, today, he's softer than usual. "Man, good thing you don't have any of these, huh? You'd have a house full of wailing brats by now."

"I practice safe sex," Erwin announces, pressing a kiss on top of Eva's head.

"Sex!"

They look at each other, wide-eyed and pale.

Levi pulls back and looks this tiny giggling girl and gapes when she yells again, "Sex!"

"Oh no no no," Erwin crumbles. "Oh my god, what have I done?"

Levi is unimpressed. "You know they'll blame me for this, right? Thanks a lot."

Eva is unaffected by Erwin smattering kisses all over her face, her hands, her chubby knees. "Oh no, darling girl, please forget that. Say papa."

"Sex!" she giggles, hugging Levi tightly, face buried on his shoulder, eyes still bright and peeking on a very defeated Erwin.

"Good job, Erwin."

* * *

 

Nap time envelopes the house in peace. Levi's picks up Eva's toys on the floor and arranges her stuffed animals (she's only staying for a few hours, why does she need a dozen of these?) in order according to size on the floor. A small dog in front all the way to the large purple elephant at the back, all waiting for the little girl to wake up.

Erwin is completely passed on the couch, Eva sleeping on his chest with a growing pool of drool on Erwin's shirt.

He takes a picture and Erwin finds it, months later, as his phone wallpaper.

By the time Erwin wakes up, Levi already has Eva in his arms. Her eyes still dazed from sleep. There's a moment of shock when he realizes her weight is gone on his chest but he's immediately soothed by Levi's voice.

"Take it easy on Erwin, little girl," he coos at Eva who's more preoccupied by her now scattered stuffed animals. Levi's is laying on the floor, curled around the babbling child on the floor. "He's doing his best. He's good I promise."

She seemed to understand something, something under the words, in the way Levi looks at her, in the way his voice returns to normal.

"He doesn't know how good he is," Levi says and Erwin wonders if he's still talking to the child. He's starting to sound like he's praying. "So please be good to us. I want to be someone's papa, too."

She turns to him and plants her face onto his arm. "Papa!" she giggles and Levi's face is painted rose.

Levi strokes her hair and catches Erwin's gaze from the couch. "I love you,"Erwin mouths. Levi smiles at him.

Eva turns to Erwin and squeals, "Sex!"

* * *

 

The house is more quiet the usual when Nile and Marie pick up their daughter. It's not until two days later that Erwin will receive a call from a very irrate Nile telling him to tell his husband "to watch his mouth around my child, oh my god, what is wrong with him?" while Marie laughs in the background.

But that night, Erwin and Levi lay in bed facing each other, curled around an empty space between them. The silence stretches on like the silence of the telephone, forever waiting for that call, the stork's call to tell them, "It's time to be parents."

"You'll be a good father," Levi tells Erwin.

"So will you," Erwin says.

They hold hands over the space between them, hope cradled in the emptiness.

* * *

 

Two years later, Eva proclaims that Levi is her favorite uncle (much for Erwin's and Nile's disappointment) and their home is filled with scattered toys, and strollers and a bright little boy with of a nest of chestnut hair and the first word of "butthole," also courtesy of Erwin.

"Dear god, how did we ever end up with such a messy brat," Levi tells the little boy seated at the dining room table with a face full of oatmeal and a smile so bright it feels like sunrise inside their home. He reaches down to wipe oatmeal off Eren's ear, who reaches out a spoonful of food towards him.

Erwin again feels the prick of tears and tells his husband, "Yes, how did we ever."

And this time, Levi's eyes are shiny, too.

* * *

 

When Eren turns three, he discovers the wonders of chocolate chip cookies thanks to Erwin. Levi disapproves of them and favors carrot sticks and Cheerios. He especially disapproves of them in bed. Most especially theirs where Erwin makes a nest of comforters and pillows with Eren when Levi's out late from work.

He feels like he's found his place in the world when Eren giggles around a handful of broken cookies while Erwin whispers a comical, conspiratorial, "Don't tell papa!"

_"What is the meaning of this?"_

"Uh-oh," both boys say as they turn to the origin of the voice. Levi glares them down from the doorway, both caught red...or well, cookie-handed. Erwin opens his mouth to explain but Levi narrows his eyes at him, already scolding in his head, _You_.

But crumbs and broken cookies have a way of being treasures when they're in the open palms of his little boy, impossibly big green eyes pooling with the most pitiful tears, a peek of snot out one nostril, the tremble of a plump lower lip. The offer of sweets and his whole heart, little as it may be, cannot be contained in the cradle of his and Erwin's arms.

Levi is defeated. He didn't even stand a chance.

"But I saved you some, papa."

* * *

 

Erwin passes out after a space movie and a whole package of cookies, sheets smeared with chocolate. Levi will have to change the sheets, but not before snapping another picture of his little one sleeping on his husband's chest.

He's happy--crumby bed, sticky fingers and all.


End file.
